TELUS Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the Canadian telco, has led a $3 million interim funding round for agricultural fintech Digital Agricultural Services (DAS).
The round was supported by existing investors including CSIRO, Startmate and individual investors. The company has raised a total of $12 million to date and is planning a larger North America-focused capital raise later this year.
Melbourne-based DAS was formed with the support of CSIRO in 2017 and went through the Startmate program in 2020. DAS has also received investment from IAG Firemark Ventures.
The DAS SaaS platform automates collection of data needed to lend and insure across the agriculture sector. The company’s customers include the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Rabobank, Cargill, IAG and Viterra.
DAS has expanded into New Zealand and is now planning to win Canadian customers through partnering with TELUS’ data insights and digital services arm TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods which has more than 5.400 customers across more than 50 countries.
Co-founder and chief executive Anthony Wilmot said DAS delivered value to customers through digitising internal processes, strengthening risk management and helping drive targeted growth.
“This is a significant milestone and marks the beginning of a relationship that we believe is of great mutual benefit, with good growth synergies and commercial opportunities,” he said.
TELUS Ventures vice president Mario Mele said he expected DAS would “bring meaningful positive change to agriculture and its supporting financial services sector”.
Image: DAS automates collection of data needed to lend and insure across the agriculture sector.